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Modeling/Illustration build, pushing for SFF

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meanie

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- Budget : Open, but roughly 2000$ ~
- Usage : I will be doing 3D modeling using Blender, some rendering (will be figuring something out with a community render farm for larger projects), Unity/Unreal development, and Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop illustration. Video editing later on down the line using Davinci Resolve. Some gaming, but less important for build direction.
- Upgradeability : Not looking to upgrade this for awhile, but am open to a dual GPU setup later down the line if anything
- US retailers

An important thing to note is for my build I will already have a 2080Ti that is being given to me as a gift. So my budget will be going to everything else in the build. (This explains my increase in the Parts list budget)

Suggested Parts List :
CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=6MasU

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7GHz 12-Core Processor ($819.99)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($89.90)
Motherboard: MSI X570 Tomahawk ATX AM4 ($279.50)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X Trio ($1129.00)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 C16 ($219.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB NVME M.2 Solid State Drive ($239.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 650 B5, 80 Plus Bronze 650W Power Supply ($88.43)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($161.99)
Total: $3028.79

I would like to get a 5950x, or alternatively a 3950x if it makes more sense cost wise. Would also probably consider 64GB of ram over 32gb.

I am hoping to build something that isn't in too big of a case while still getting adequate cooling to everything within. I'm very fond of SFF cases but I know it's probably a much bigger ask to try and get everything into a mini itx case, and also onto a mini ITX motherboard. I think my biggest issue is even when trying to build in the more compact ATX cases I'm not sure where I would place fans and such, and which direction to point them etc.

I am into something like the Meshlicious released by SSUPD/Lian Li

EDIT: Or the recently recalled NZXT H1, or Micro ATX options :
the Cerberus ( https://www.sliger.com/products/cases/cerberus/ )

or the O11-D Mini (https://lian-li.com/product/o11-dynamic-mini/)


Sorry if I'm all over the place, maybe people could help with some suggestions on what are good options in terms of cases? I did take a peak at the SFF case article but it seemed more geared towards gaming than my use case. Thank you for any help!
 
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Alex Glawion

Alex Glawion

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I'd definitely go with the 5950X if you can find it at a reasonable price. It's far superior to the 3950X in single core workloads and just more snappy overall. 64GB, too, is a good choice. You'll have to find a smaller Motherboard, though, that will fit you case choices, which has 4 Ram slots and lets you expand to a second GPU, though that second GPU I fear is difficult to achieve in such small enclosures.

I don't think there's a mini-itx Motherboard that allows for 4 ram slots, but you can have 2x 32gb modules. There's no mini-itx board that allows for two gpus, though. Only the bigger micro-atx ASRock X570M Pro4 allows for two GPUs.
 
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meanie

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I'm not sure how bumping works here, but I'm finally getting around to building my PC!

So I've acquired a few parts so far, and am building for upgradeability (since i'm currently on a tight budget so I won't be able to get the 5950x immediately, for instance)

Here's what I have so far (note: I may get a 3900x, I'm not entirely sure yet it just depends on price right now I think? the 3900x went up in price at microcenter for some reason) :

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($393.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $60.00)
Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 UNIFY ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $250.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory (Purchased For $100.00)
Storage: Corsair MP600 Core 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact TG Light Tint ATX Mid Tower Case ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($124.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1176.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-10-05 16:46 EDT-0400


I'm wondering if the Meshify 2 Compact is my best option? Any other suggestions?

The other thing is I'd prefer to fit it all into a smaller case. I've looked at a few options, the Cooler Master HAF XB EVO, the Lian LI O11D-Mini, and some other options. I'm open to suggestions on this as it's pretty difficult to figure out what would work best and also keep my temps low. I am also very out of the loop on all the new SFF cases and offerings, at some point in the past I was looking to build in an ITX case but I've decided to just stick with ATX. Case directly influences my PSU decision, I almost bought a Corsair RM650i earlier but PCpartpicker said it's incompatible with my board (light googling says it may be due to lack of 2 CPU_PWR connectors)

I understand I may just have to scrap the idea of a small case since I'm sure rendering will run the GPU pretty hot and the health and safety of my PC is more important to me than aesthetics at the end of the day.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!
 
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